Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has predicted the death of broadcasting. That may come as a relief to many of today's broadcast executives who will be well into retirement by then. But if he is giving TV stations another 16 years, his outlook is downright rosy.

So what gives? Why has one of the most revered news operations -- a program that has won more Emmy Awards than any other TV news organization -- turned its back on the kind of shoe-leather investigative reporting that has earned it a record-setting audience?

Just how much is CBS asking Time Warner Cable to pay them to carry their programming? Just how much does TWC already pay? TWC makes money off of monthly subscription fees. CBS makes money off of TWC for a portion of those fees, plus advertising fees.

CBS over the course of a couple of days also managed to trash sizable part of a $1.8 billion investment. All in all, not a bad weekend's work. The question now is: how do you dig yourself out of a big hole, assuming you even want to?

No one likes watching TV commercials, except, perhaps, during the Super Bowl. Even those whose livelihoods depend on them have a hard time convincing family members not to fast forward past them in this DVR age.